Forgive and Forget II
by Phoray
Summary: Continues the story of Forgive and Forget I. Sango and Miroku now head off alone on their mission to find Kohaku who has dissappeared with Naraku's destruction. Together they will fight off inner demons as well as out.
1. Default Chapter

_Summer: Week 2 _

Konnichiwa Diary, 

My name is Sango.

For a moment, Sango felt stupid for introducing herself to a book. But since Kagome said this was how a diary was started...

_Kagome gave a diary, you, to me when I showed interest in hers a month previous. Since then, Naraku, our enemy in many ways personal, has kidnapped her. Inu Yasha, for betrayed love and loss of life. Miroku, for the curse of a short life upon his family. Little Shippo, orphaned by the loss of his parents. And I..._

Sango put the end of the pen in her mouth, chewing it. A nervous habit she had picked up from Kagome. She gazed at her surroundings a bit. The trees were just beginning to look brownish towards the top, leaves wavering now and then under the slight breeze. The sunlight that streamed through them brightened the clean white pages of paper within the notebook she held within her lap. It shone too brightly, and she tipped it back to remove some of the glare from the sheets. Pressing the tip of the pen back to the blue lined page, she began to write again. 

_Looking for Sesshoumaru is a bit like looking for Tama shards. We have wandered about from village to village, appearing as if we have no purpose really. But we do have one... We began at the source of all our problems... Naraku. _

Sango gritted her teeth upon writing that name, jabbing the pen into the paper in her sudden uncontrollable fury. She breathed, letting the feeling go, knowing it was foolish to hold onto it, let it surface at all. 

_We followed the path that Inu had started us upon, coming to that dark lair soon after we started. And when we got there the place was empty. We went to the building directly in front of us, noticing on our way that the place looked a bit run down, litter and what few leaves had fallen from the trees scattered about, and headed inside, taking advantage of the open door. >The rooms within looked destroyed, scorch marks upon the floor of one, though not made from any fire that I could see. Miroku placed his arm before me, blocking me from proceeding. When I looked at him in question, I could tell he sensed a danger I could not, one of the spiritual nature. >Further investigation with my senses caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. SOMETHING had happened there, something that required extreme power. Even with my Tajiya training, I had to push myself forward into the room, cautiously moving to the side. But nothing happened, and the Houshi declared it a past occurrence, but to leave such a strong resonance..._

"Sango-sama? It's time to leave this village."

A little span of silence.

"No one has seen the demon lord, Sesshoumaru."

Sango scribbled in how they found out it was Sesshoumaru they were looking for (they got their hands on a demon and grilled the info out of it) and closed her diary. She shoved it into the provision sack she had acquired at the last village.

Sango sighed, coming back to the situation at hand and another disappointment. Turning to Miroku, she put her feelings of failure away. It was time to start over. 

***

Miroku looked into Sango's tired brown eyes. In her attempt to find her brother ASAP, they had been through 10 villages in 2 weeks. Inu Yasha, a stickler for time wasted, would have been, although secretly. Though Sango and himself were fit physically, the emotional toll on Sango was beginning to be a burden on her spirit. 

And Miroku was almost painfully aware of the fact that he could do nothing to comfort her. His calm speaking Buddhist ways would do nothing but slide over the protective shell she had erected around her feelings concerning her younger brother. He was not her confidante on anything; therefore he could not pull personal experience to the fore on ways to reach out to her. When he really thought about it, all he was was a traveling companion, which pestered her with his roaming hand at every possible opportunity. 

It ate at him now, nibbling at his calm. To be so near, and yet unable to do anything...

Sango's voice brought him abruptly out of his reverie. 

"Where to now? To the eastern coast or West to the mountains?"

She faced both east and west judging the possibilities. She seemed to favor the West, facing it fully, and he could follow her logic quite well. >Why would a dog demon wish to be on the coast where little shelter from the seasonal elements (hurricanes, typhoons, flooding from tsunamis) was to be found? Also turning westward, his staff jingling as he shifted, he pondered the potential of the direction himself. His eyes roamed over the grassy hills, past the young rocks eroded by many short, steep and fast-flowing streams and rivers, to the great mountains themselves.

Although not particularly high, the mountains were steep, making passing through them dangerous. And the many broad leaf evergreens, deciduous, and needle leaf conifers covering them made it hard to navigate. Right now, it being early autumn, some trees were blooming with distinctive, clear, medium blue, helmet-shaped flowers, adding a clean scent to the already chilly day.

Such would surely surround Sesshoumaru, a beauty to equal the landscape himself. Miroku briefly wondered why such features were wasted on him. Fine features as he had belonged to the female half of the population... "Houshi-sama!!" Miroku blinked, the image of a very annoyed beauty before him finally reaching his mind. 

"Hai, Sango Sama?"He asked carefully and lightly. 

What had he done now? 

***

Sango tapped her foot and shook her head before squinting her eyes up at the tall monk in frustration. Miroku was acting strangely. He hadn't felt her up for one thing. It's not like she WANTED it to happen; just that it was behavior differing from his usual perverted monk self. 

'What are you doing, Sango? You're wasting time! Kohaku may be injured or captive or...' 

Sango's eyes teared up and she turned sharply around and away from the monk on her heel. 

"Lets just go." 

On their way past the village, old acquaintances waved at them as they walked by, people from previous encounters on their search for the jewel shards. The pair felt their curious eyes on their retreating backs. Sango knew they were wondering why they were searching for this dog demon. Some even thought them slightly daft, for who would LOOK for a demon? 

Sango sighed, running her roughened hands over the strap keeping the Hiraikotsu to her back. Her thoughts roamed to and fro and nowhere as they walked, the warm sun on them but the chill autumn keeping them cool. Her mind finally settled on an idea that had sprung up recently, and had decided to take up residency in her mind for a while. It at least kept her mind from the painful thoughts and memories of her brother. In Kagome's time, demons were a myth instead of the abundant reality it was now. How did it happen? None but the Tajiya had ever really succeeded time and again in the destruction of demons of any kind. The information had peaked interest and curiosity within her, keeping her mind otherwise occupied on long walks. But she and her brother were all that were left... 

The voices of those 2 young ninja girls again echoed in her mind. "Train us, Big Sister!"

She had enjoyed instructing them on the basics; how they absorbed every word she spoke, learning the things that would keep them alive in an encounter with demons. They would use those skills to stay safe and protect others, bringing the reality in Kagome's time of demons being a myth that much closer. > A wonderful place, in her opinion, full of good things, where tales of demons were but ridiculous notions to scare small children instead of the horror filled recounting of local villagers and children in the reality of today. She didn't know where she might find students, but it was something to think about... 

***

His eyelids felt heavy, resisting his weak urge to move them. He felt warm. Felt the mat underneath him and the cushion beneath his head. He shifted, the blanket spread over him sliding lower down his chest. Yawning, his eyelids lifted and the curtain of darkness they afforded left. He sat up, the blanket sliding down to bunch around his waist. Rubbing the Sand man's traces from his eyes, he blinked a couple of times before looking around the hut. 

He was in the furthest right corner of a small room, the room being the entire hut. Sitting up, the thin blanket bunched around his waist. He could see where his feet and ankles were bear of the blanket. Another clue to his height, because this was a good sized blanket, meant to cover an average man with length to spare. His feet were still warm though, a window open to the light allowing a square of the sun's warmth to shine in upon them. 

"Gomen ne, sir, for hitting you so hard."

Startled, he jumped back, slamming his head on the wall. With a grunt, he leaned back on one hand, grimacing, the other going up to the now swelling bump. Or rather, swelling more than before. 

_Man, This guy can really give ya one.'_

One eye open as he gave one last rub on the back of his head, he dropped his hands in his lap and looked the man over. Short, neat clothes. Standard dragon knot pulling back thin black hair. He also took note of his hands. He could see from where he sat the calluses on those hands as they lifted the bowl up from the table. Dirt beneath the finger nails as the young man handed him the bowl. 

He differed greatly from himself, as all of the people from this land did. Red hair down to his shoulders in wild waves. A full six feet when standing, he always had to duck his head into any establishment hereabouts. His clothes fit him well, but he wore breeches instead of the... He looked at the young man who wore one of those skirts for pants. By now he was use to the look of them, but he would not wear one himself, not for all the gold in the world. 

"Aren't you missing a good days work being here and tending me?" He asked, taking the rice and leaning back against the wall. 

The young man nodded. "Yes, but the harvest is nearly over, there is not so much for me to do." He ducked his head in shame. "Sorry again, sir. If I had guessed that you were really--"

"Her brother? I'm sure you would have spared me a lump on my head eh?"

The young man's face reddened in embarrassment and nodded again. >Spooning the rice into his mouth using his fingers, he quickly consumed the small meal. Swallowing, he looked up at the boy again, catching him staring.

"Yes? Wanted to say something?" Caught, the boy backed away. 

Stiffly, he bowed. "My name is Kaiden. May I ask yours?"

Ahh... I go by Dedrick." The boy rose from his bow. "Err... you and she look remarkably alike." 

Dedrick grinned. "Of course we do. We're twins." With that statement, he stood up and bowed back.

Greetings Kaiden." He raised one eyebrow in amused questioning. "I suppose you want to ask my sisters hand now?"

***

Looking ahead toward the mountains, Sango estimated the amount of time it would take to get there. Through the trees that were beginning to thicken as the pair moved rapidly up the slight slope of the land, she could see the tops of Mt. ShowaShinzan reaching upward into the low-lying clouds. >Sango frowned. She could have sworn that today would be a clear sunny day, but those clouds meant rain or at least fog if it cooled down enough this night. 

Something dropped from the branches of a tree above her. Eyes automatically following the movement to the ground, it landed with a loud thump, rocking slightly back and forth on the hard packed dirt path. Sango stood staring at it, Miroku behind her doing the same, looking over her shoulder. A cylinder, round on all sides except for one flat end. 

"HELLO!!!" A girl suddenly swung into view, startling Sango so badly she threw herself to the side. Rolling onto her back a few moments later, her eyes widened slightly. 

Hanging upside down, her legs curled around a tree branch, the girl squealed, flinging her arms out happily. A cheeky childish grin covered her face while a sheet of bright red and orange hair almost reached the ground. A light green shirt covered her, the material hugging her slender waist, the collar hanging off her pale shoulders while the bottom stopped and brushed along mid-thigh. Or would if she were right side up. 

Letting the branch go, she flipped forward, landing upon her slipper covered feet, before she placed her arms out, the baggy sleeves hanging over her arms to her fingers as she did a curtsy, bowing her head. Looking back up at them, her bright green eyes twinkled with amused enjoyment of life in general. 

"TADA!" She shouted. She stayed that way for about 5 seconds with both Sango and the monk staring at her, eyes wide at her energetic, but odd, performance. 

A frown marred the girls face and Sango blinked. Mildly wondering what this strange girl would do next. >The girl turned abruptly and pounced the black object from earlier. 

"Is it broken?" The girl muttered to herself. 

She held it up to the sun as if looking for flaws in a fragile gem. Then her arm came down, whacking the object against the ground a few times. Plopping it in her lap, she moved her fingers over it. 

By now, Sango had made it back to the Hoshi's side. >She leaned in closer. "Do you know this person?" She whispered. 

Seeing the pained looked on his face in response to her question, she raised an eyebrow. Opening he mouth for another query she

"HEY!" Both jumped at the girls sudden loudness right beside them. 

Sango blinked. >"How did she… with no sound?" She murmured wonderingly.

The girl stood before Miroku and held out the object. "Here, hold this Ku-Monkey." She said, shoving the ball into the monk's arms.

I knew the wick was too short!" She exclaimed, bouncing over to the side of the path and digging through a bit of the rock rubble there.

Apparently finding what she wanted, she headed back over to them. While she was doing this Sango turned again to the Houshi. 

"KU-MONKEY??!! Miroku turned red which was even more shocking than the pet name.

Back, the girl hovered over the ball a moment, readied two rocks and struck them together. Suddenly, the girl grabbed Sango's arm and dragged her quickly away behind a tree about 20 ft away. The girl looked excitedly towards Miroku as if waiting for something.

***

Looking back at the pair peeking out from behind a tree and then at the ball, Miroku had a feeling that something extremely unpleasant was going to happen. And the whole feeling emanated from the object, light though it was. So what did he do? 

Dropping the object, Miroku turned to run. Too late. 

***

Whistles and bangs followed by billows of smoke ensued, startling a flock of roosting birds to escape the chaos into the sky. 

***

Stepping out of the supply building of the village, Dedrick's attention was taken in by the nose and smoke coming from the forest to the west. He turned to Kaiden who was exiting the building behind him.

"You didn't?" Kaiden looked uncomfortable.

"She looked so interested... I..." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. >Dedrick just shook his head before turning west towards the disturbance and heading quickly into the trees at the edge of the village.


	2. Forgive and Forget II Ch 2

_Sango coughed, the smoke familiarly acrid in her nostrils... a smell she remembered from childhood._

**_FLASHBACK_**

_Father!" Small nimble feet thumped across the wooden floor, making their way to the room in the corner of the home._

_That's where father had his quiet time. At least, that's what mommy told her._

_Slowing down, she inched into the doorway. Black hair hanging to her shoulders, Sango was a cute little 5 yr old. Her soft brown eyes took in the sight of her father kneeling before the family shrine in silence._

_Her father was in his fanciest robes. Sango liked them especially for the bright green and blue lizards stitched into the light silk cloth. Mommy hadn't readied her yet for the celebration._

_She had to make her outfit, was working on it at that moment. And then she would need rest before the celebration._

_Sango frowned, looking at her father, so still before the shrine, his lips moving in silent prayer. A prayer for healing, for she recognized it when the priestess chanted it over the ill_

_Mommy was tired a lot lately. Her tummy so big with her little brother or sister. And mommy was pale too..._

_Her father shifted in his spot before standing. Giving one more gracious bow to the shrine, thanking the spirits for listening, he turned towards the doorway. He took a few steps before he noticed her there, silently watching him. He smiled down at her, eyes tight with worry, though such a detail went unnoticed by little Sango._

_"Hello, little daughter."_

_Sango suddenly remembered why she had come. "Father Father! The wagon has come!" She practically jumped up and down in excitement._

_Her father's hands came down on her thin shoulders, stilling her. Looking up into her fathers smiling face, Sango grinned happily back and waited._

_"Shall we go and greet it then?" _

_Nodding eagerly, Sango took her father's large hand, which engulfed her own._

_Sango led her father out into the sunlit village. People were all streaming in one direction, the main gates. That's where the trade wagon was coming in. Sango could hear the large wheels squealing forward into the village, holding up the heavy weight of the trading goods. _

_As they neared the gates, Sango was pleased to see that the tall walls around the village did not cast a shadow upon the brightly colored wagon._

_"It must be full noon. Almost lunch time! She smiled. Mommy made such good lunches. Finally, she and her father had to slow down, the crowd being thickest nearest the wagon._

_                "Let my daughter and I pass, please! Her father's deep voice called out. "I must greet the wagon!_

_The villagers reluctantly but respectively parted enough to let her father and her pass through, and Sango got a clear view of the wagon. _

_Four horses led it, their sturdy legs rippling with the muscles that pulled the heavy wagon up and down hills and valleys. And obviously sure footed, otherwise the whole wagon would have been lost coming around those steep mountains and the lacking in width trails etched into the stone over time._

_All the horses were white, reminding her of the stories the wagon traders told during their stay. Tales of beautiful creatures...¦_

_"Unicorns... She murmured, her imagination taking off in what it would be like to ride such a creature._

_Her daydreaming was cut short when her father dropped her hand with a slight squeeze and walked forward. The trade leader came off his wagon, grunting assent to something another had asked beside him. The man's bright red hair shone almost golden copper in the direct sunlight as he met her father and both bowed._

_Both spoke words o the formal greeting, but Sango paid little attention. She leaned a bit forward, cocking her head and squinting towards the wagon. Something was moving in the back of that wagon._

_A flickering of sparks and a high-pitched whistle happened in quick succession. Eyes widening, everything around her seemed to have a delayed reaction, even herself. Shouts from the wagon reached her and she saw movement in the corner of her eye._

_She turned her head towards it just a moment before another small body rammed into her, knocking her down. Both rolled, a blur of bodies moving across the ground._

_A spilt second later, a rocket zoomed through the space she had just been standing in, exploding into a thousand searing sparks with a boom so loud that her ears popped for an hour afterwards._

_She saw all this over the shoulder of her rescuer, whom lay upon her. Turning her head, she came face to face with him. _

_Red hair hung down to his ears and into his face as his light blue eyes stared back at her, full of concern.  The young boy seemed to look her over, before an impish grin came over his face. Rolling off of her, he stood up, before offering a grubby hand towards her to help her up._

_"Guess yer alright. Gotta watch out for those boomer rockets. They shoot off to easy._

_A moment later, her searching father's eyes caught sight of her and he rushed over, scooping her up._

_At the age of eight, Dedrick decided that Sango wasn't all that bad looking for a girl and kept grinning up at her._

_At the age of 5, Sango looked down at her grinning rescuer from her father's arms and decided something. _

_That boy was a weirdo._

**END FLASHBACK**

Sango shook her head of the memories. That object was a firework. She hadn't seen one in a long time, not since the age of 5. Trade stopped that year. The trader had decided to retire and he was the only one brave enough to come to the village, it being a dangerous route to go on with any regularity.

Thankfully, that firework wasn't a boomer rocket, which her ears were grateful for.

'It sure makes a lot of smoke though', she thought, coughing and waving the fading smoke away from her face.

Standing away from the boulder as the strange girl had done, Sango took a look at what this firework had done to Miroku.

Sango couldn't keep quiet. Every time she glanced at him and was thrown into a fit of giggles at which she tried vainly to suppress.

Miroku grimaced at it. Which he guessed was better than the all out laughter which off and around the trees coming from their newest traveler.

"It's not that funny," he grumbled, which made the girl laugh even louder.

"But it is! She grinned, wiping a laughter tear from the corner of her eye. "Just look at you!"

Miroku's face was completely blackened by the soot from the smoke, causing his teeth to appear overly white.  The soot completely covered his robes, his left side the least as he had been turning to run the moment the firework went off. His hair stuck out at all angles and was tangled up in the tie that pulled back his mid length black hair.

"You look like a crazy blown up orc wearing a dress!" She laughed out.

Miroku gritted his teeth, especially when Sango joined in with her badly suppressed giggles. He sighed before stopping, closing his eyes, his staff's rings jingling became silent.  Sango stopped as well, looking at him. She frowned.

"Gomen ne, Houshi-sama." She said quietly. "For laughing at you." She neared him enough to place a hand on his shoulder. He sighed again, looking away, upping Sango's guilt.

"It is time for me to bathe and rid myself of this appearance." He stated.

Suddenly Sango and the girl felt a hand caress their bottoms.

"Would you ladies care to join me?"

SMACK

"By the way, my names Daphna." Daphna stood, balancing on the low tree branch she had been sitting on a moment before. "Daphna the poet." She bowed.

Sango's eyes widened at the feat. 'A perfect sense of balance as well.'

 "I'm Sango." She responded. "I'm taija."

Sango cocked her head to the side, continuing to look at the girl. Daphna lifted her arms, reached for the branch above her and stepped off. She swung forward, then back, forward, back, gaining momentum. Then forward and with a bend of her body, she was carried up into the upper branches and taken from view. A moment later, Sango heard humming, which next turned into words.

Houshi is a Ku-monkey

He can't fool you or me

Grabbing with his roaming hand

Pretty girls throughout the land

But with a smack

He's in the act

Of exercising

His enterprising

Riding the cart

Of his art

He's robbed you blind!

He's one of a kind

The leaves rustled in the wind and all was silence. Sango sat still on her boulder, giving a weird look at the tree. _'My god, I've seen less odd demons!'_

                Having found the path and the scorch marks upon the ground, Dedrick stopped to look for clues as to which direction she went. Seeing extra footprints covering and around those of his sister's, Dedrick had a twinge of real worry. Had his vagrant sister finally gotten into some trouble she couldn't handle? Hurrying forward, but as quietly as possible, he made his way further up the path. Eventually he heard his sister's sung poetry, and his heart jumped at the thought of FINNALY capturing his sister and making his way back home. He hadn't been home in more than a year. Going in the direction of where the sound cam from, it carried him off the path.

Seeing as Daphna didn't appear to be showing up anytime soon and that Miroku was otherwise occupied up the river, Sango decided to take a bath of her own, pushing aside her guilt about wasting time on frivolities. The river was hip deep just a few steps in and clear since there hadn't been any rain recently to disturb the sediment at the bottom. The ground beside the river was uneven, smooth in some places, rocky in others, but mostly a mixture of each. Trees were thick all along side it, it's water source always lending it the water it needed.   Looking up at the sky again, she noted the darkening clouds.

Taking her clothes off, she placed them in a pile next to her carry sack.  Hiraikotsu lay beside them. No sun to warm the water, the river was a bit chilly so she moved deeper and under to get used to it more quickly, the water feeling very cool against her face. Feeling something brush up against her under the water, she opened her eyes. Nothing.

Coming up for air, her long black hair floated out on the surface of the water in a wide circle about her head. Sango aimlessly watched it, the hair moving with the ripples of the river. Her eyes seemed to lose focus and then stung. Tears began to trial down her face to join the water. She didn't know why.  Her mind wandered as if separated from her body. Surprisingly, it went back to the memories of earlier.

FLASHBACK 

_Sighing, Sango placed her chin on her hand, looking out the window dejectedly. __After that stupid rocket almost hit her, her father had said not to go near the wagon till the celebration tonight. Thing was, all the other kids she played with were at the wagon. And all the fun adults were preparing. Which left her with nothing to do but stay home until mommy was done resting. She sighed again, not really looking at anything outside.  
                "BOO!"   
                Sango yelled, before slapping her hands over her mouth and turning her head to see if she had woke up her mother. Seeing as she hadn't, Sango turned a glare on the boy who had just popped up in front of her window. Recognizing him as her weirdo rescuer, she got further annoyed.  
                "What are you doing?!" She whispered furiously. "You almost made me wake up Mother!"  
                The boy climbed in. "Hey, I'm Dedrick." He said, apparently ignoring what she had just said. "I've been looking for ya this whole time."  
                 Distracted, Sango asked, "Why?"   
                Dedrick stilled, and then turned around slowly. Getting real close, he looked around conspiratorially with big eyes added for dramatic effect. Then he looked straight at her. Sango leaned in and waited.  
                 "Because." Sango waited for more… The blinked, confused, when it didn't come.  
                "That's it?" She asked.  
                "Thas it." He confirmed.  
                Sango raised her hand up and pinched him. He yelped, backing up and bringing a hand up to rub the red mark.  
                "Idiot, that's no reason." Dedrick turned red and he angrily walked back towards the window.  
                "Fine then! I won't show you." He began to climb out the window.  
Dedrick felt a hand on his arm and stopped.  
                "Wait! Show me what?"  
                Dedrick grinned.  
                "Follow me."  
                Sango looked back at where her mother was resting before doing so._

__

_"This is where my father is gonna shoot off the fireworks."_

_                "Your daddy?"_

_"Yeap." Dedrick stated, strutting around the clearing._

_"My father owns the wagon and they set up right here. And tonight, I'm going to be right here to see 'em shoot off." He came over and took her hand._

_"Wanna see it with me? I'll come and getcha when it starts, k?"_

_"I… guess." Sango replied uncertainly._

_"Great!" He clapped. "Cya later then!" he said, before running off._

_Sango stood there, wondering what she was supposed to do now._

_"Sango!" She jerked her head around to the sound of her name being called._

_Her face broke into smiles and she ran to her father._

_"Mother has finished your kimono, little daughter. It is time to prepare."_

__

_Sango held tightly to her father's hand in the crowds. She stepped over puddles here and there, careful not to dip the edge of her new kimono into them and ruin the silk. Smoothing a hand down the fabric at a time when daddy was still, Sango admired how soft and silky it was. And very pretty, covered in what appeared to be waves of the ocean interspaced with twinkling stars on the dark blue silk. The sleeves were edged with pale silver crescent moons as well. With Sango's dark black hair framing her face, and purple-blue shaded eyes, she was a very pretty little girl and one could only imagine what a beauty she would become when she became older._

_Chinese lanterns, courtesy of the trade wagon, illuminated the night. They would be put out shortly before the fireworks started for best effect. But for right now, Sango just looked high above her daddy's head, and between people for brief views of the delicate paper covered in light artwork. Maybe later she could get daddy to buy her one…_

_Children ran around and around, narrowly missing people, as they waved their sparklers here and there, making shapes of light in the air before them. Sango pursed her lips. By now, all will have been sold. She had missed her chance at getting one earlier today when she had been sentenced to time at home. Which reminded her, was Dedrick already at their meeting place?_

_Having slowed down to look at everything, she felt a tug on her hand. Daddy's eyes looked down at her, then back at mommy._

_Mommy was looking paler then ever tonight. In a beautiful kimono of her own, though created to hide what was readily apparent, she outshone most of the women there despite her condition and weakness. Long black hair, usually in a braid and pinned tightly to her skull, flowed in long tresses down her back, some held in an ornate bun atop her head. _

_She was leaning against her father's shoulder, though one would only notice if they were up close. To all others, her head was held high and her back was straight as she walked beside the village's leader. One hand rested on her tummy, fingers moving in small circles as if to rub away a pain._

_Sango skipped up, and looked around her father._

_"Thank you, mommy. I very mush like the kimono you made for me."_

_Her mother's face broke into a heartwarming smile as she looked at her only daughter. "Your welcome, Sango." Her mother glanced around. "Why don't you go and show your playmates?" She suggested, knowing that her little daughter would love to show to all her friends just how much her mommy loved her._

_Sango grinned. "Ok! Thanks mommy!" Little Sango said, before running ahead into the crowd, leaving her parents with only a wave goodbye._

_Hurrying to where the fireworks were set up, she skirted the clearing where all the people were placing fireworks in rows, to the place where Dedrick had shown her. _

_"Boo!" Dedrick popped out from behind a barrel. Sango rolled her eyes and reached over and pinched him again._

_"Ow! Stop that, you pinch hard." Sango grinned._

_"Look!" She said, stepping back a bit and showing herself in the kimono. "Mommy made it for me." Smiling she looked herself up and down before meeting his eyes. _

_"Hey… your really pretty." Dedrick said, before he realized he said it. He turned red. Boys weren't 'posed to say that!_

_Sango's smile widened. "Thank you." She bowed politely, just like mommy had shown her._

_Dedrick just turned towards the clearing, shoving his fingers thru his hair to get them out of his eyes._

_"When is it starting?" Sango asked. Right about then, everything went dark. _

_Attendants by each lantern had extinguished them all at the same exact moment, creating an exciting as well as a quieting effect on the crowd. A sharp whistle signaled the beginning of the show, followed by a burst high in the air of multicolored sparks, which lit up the people's rapt faces. _

_About ten minutes in, Sango noticed some agitated movement in the crowd in the corner of her eye. Then darkness as the light from the fireworks shaped like a willow tree faded away. Looking directly at what she thought was the same spot; she waited for another burst to light up the scene._

_Whistle BOOM!_

_Bright light again lit up the area and Sango saw people gathering around a person lying upon the ground. Then darkness. Annoyed, Sango took a few steps forwards, further into the clearing, waiting for another firework to go off._

_An even louder whistle than before, just a few feet away caused her to jump and clap her hands over her ears. But she still saw what was happening over there._

_"Mommy!!" She cried out, as she recognized her fathers face. He was holding up her mother, as if to help her up again to her feet. Sango started running as fast as her little feet could carry her across the clearing, ignoring the yells from Dedrick behind her._

_The high pitched whistles and blasts from above kept all sound from reaching her as she dodged between the firework attendants and the fireworks themselves. She was narrowly missed by one rocket, which swerved and zoomed right before her. One man tried to block her path from going further into the clearing, but she ducked beneath him, almost tripping on the edge of her kimono, and instead ripping it when her foot caught._

_Nearing the other side of the clearing finally, she threw herself into the crowd. _

_"Father! Father!" She called out, trying to seek both him and her mother in the crowd. "Father!" she shouted, tears of fear and confusion filling her eyes and coursing down her cheeks. A hand on her shoulder, pulling on the cloth of her kimono, startled her. Blue eyes met her brown ones._

_"Over here, Sango!" Dedrick yelled, as he pulled her to the side. Sango reached over and clutched at his hand tightly. Dedrick held on just as tightly as his small 7 yr old frame led her thru the crowds and to her parents. " Their right here!"_

_Sango dropped his hand and ran to her father, who was assisting gin carrying her momma in a blanket. Mother looked completely white and she had deep lines furrowing her face as she bit down on her lip. Sango's heart jumped in fear._

_"Father! What is wrong with mommy?"_

_Her father looked down at her, worry having taken over his face, making it appear frightening to the small girl. Where were Daddy's smiles? What was wrong??!_

_The grand finale boomed loud into the sky, and the sparks lit up the night in the shape of a spider._

__

_Sango didn't remember much of that night after the fireworks. She was eventually led by her neighbors to their house to stay. For some reason, no one would allow the girl to come inside with her mommy and daddy. SO she waited outside, huddled down just beneath the window. Tears escaped her now and then, as she sniffled and waited. She heard awful noises from inside, frightening moans that made her want to hide. But she didn't hide. And that is where her neighbors found her, and brought her to their home, wrapped her in a blanket and let her lay on their pallet. Narada, the lady of the house, slept near her, keeping her company, and stroking her hair in the effort to calm her down enough to make her fall into sleep._

_Wrapping herself tightly with the blanket, she rolled over onto her side. Whispering to herself that everything would be ok, she fell asleep a few hours before dawn._

_She stayed at her neighbors for two more days. Everything was strange to her, as her routine was disrupted and her parents gone inside the home she was not allowed to enter. Dedrick came over at one point and said goodbye, but Sango was silent, hardly noticing he was there at all. Brief warmth wrapped around her shoulders and was gone._

_Dawn of the second day, little Sango was awakened by Narada._

_"Come, you must go back home." Something on the lady's face seeped into her child's mind and an uneasiness filled her, as she, still in the torn kimono she had refused to take off, returned home. _

_Her father was inside, face in his hands, hunched over himself and small looking. The image frightened her and she rushed forward. However, Narada took a firm hold on her hand. Sango struggled._

_"Father!" her father's face jerked up and Sango stilled at the sight. Father was…crying?_

_Narada led her inside to the back room. Mother was there, lying still on the bed. Sango did not move from her spot in the doorway. Something told her that mommy wouldn't be getting up. Mommy would never be getting up. _

_Sango's face was turned down to the floor as hot tears once again filled her eyes.  A tug on her hand caused her to look up into Narada's sympathetic pained eyes. Again, Sango was led, but to the side of the room, where there sat a small basket full of blankets._

_Wait, no… not blankets. There' swaddled in several blankets to keep it warm, was her new little brother. Narada kneeled down beside her._

_"Sango," she said quietly. "This is your brother, Kohaku. Your mother named him before…" She trailed off._

_Sango ignored her after that, reaching in carefully and picking up the child. Time passed, as the baby gurgled hungrily in her arms._

_Later, at the funeral, little Sango had the responsibility of holding the child. Or rather, had taken on that responsibility, allowing no one else to do so. As the flames were lit beneath her mother's body, Sango looked into her little brother's face. The dry wood cracked and sparked, the flames shining bright on her pale determined face._

_"Neither of us have a mother now…" Sango hugged him tight to her. "I'll take care of you, Kohaku." _

**END FLASHBACK**

Eyes half closed and unfocused, Sango's lips moved silently with the words.

 "I'll take care of you, Kohaku." She didn't notice the vines wrapped around her arms and legs, nor the one wrapped snuggly around her neck, keeping her above the water.

The vines pulled her towards the opposite back of the river from which she had entered, body limp with the poison that the earlier brush by one of the vines had caused her to absorb. The vines had lain beneath the water, searching, waiting for a victim to come along.

Mid-afternoon, it nevertheless darkened even further with the incoming clouds from the west. Sensing something wrong, Dedrick stopped abruptly. Searching for what he had sensed, his ears strained for any sounds that were out of the ordinary. His eyes found nothing, and the only sounds were a twitter here and there from birds finding roosts in which to stay dry from the approaching storm. Glancing up, Dedrick decided it was beginning to look like a pretty serious storm.

'The spirits aren't happy.' An unwanted superstitious thought, he ignored it. Deciding that all this was just his imagination, he turned to go back to the path he had just left. A flicker to the left had him in fighting stance.

"Who's there?" he demanded. A small boy of 14 stood there, still and expectant, as if just waiting and wanting for him to find him.  His clothes were roughed up, as if he had been in battle recently, his brown hair escaping from where he had pulled it back. He carried no weapons as far as he could see, though.

Surprised, Dedrick straightened. "What do you want? The boy suddenly looked off to the side. Dedrick's reflexes caused him to do the same. Nothing.

"Well—" he turned back to the boy. Nothing.

"What the hell—" Another flicker to the side. He turned quickly and saw the boy again. Then the boy suddenly took off.

Needless to say, Dedrick followed.

Branches slapped him in the face as he tried to keep his sights on the young boy. Just when he had a clear sight on him, he turned around a tree and seemed to fade from view, only to appear a few moments later, as if to encourage him on.

Suddenly, the trees ended, sending him unbalanced over a loose ledge of mud, which collapsed beneath him. Standing up quickly from where he had fallen on his hands and knees, Dedrick looked around. Seeing the placid river, greenish water almost slate gray from the reflected storm clouds, Dedrick was slightly confused. Why was he even HERE?

A splash, as if from a thrown rock caught his attention. His body tensed at what he saw. A young woman was being drawn ever closer to what appeared to be a green blob of a plant with no eyes as far as he could see. All it was was vines and teeth.

It had stopped using it's camouflage for hiding within the trees, having given in to the hunger and greed for the kill. And it's meal.

"Damn!" he cursed, having realized something. _'I forgot my weapon back at the village!'_ He thought, annoyed with himself and frantic for an idea on how to save this person.

A clattering of metal against the pebbled mud turned him around. And his eyes met those of the boy's again. Dark brown meeting bright blue. Dedrick frowned at both the action in confusion as well as at the sudden sense of familiarity he had from seeing those eyes.

Now, at Dedrick's feet, lay a curved silver blade attached to a balled chain. Looking back up at the boy he—

"He's gone…" No sound. Another splash came to him from the river, reminding him of the monster and his lunch.

Grabbing the weapon tightly around the pommel, he ran and cut one of the vines pulling the female in. the monster screamed, it's cut vine shooting out from beneath the water and bleeding green across mud, rocks, and water.

The creature was out of its element, meant to be in the trees to hide and travel. It had no feet to speak of; instead using it's vines for transportation. It had come out only to eat its victim who had appeared to be alone. It tried to keep hold of the woman while also trying to escape. That was it's first and last mistake.

Hacking away at each vine that came near him, the green blood made the rocks slick as he dodged vines, the stupid creatures enraged pained screams becoming more and more muted as its life blood pooled around and behind it as it tried to move towards the trees. Dedrick managed to keep at least one hand free to cut himself loose. Anytime a vine managed to wrap around him. Finally, it had no vies to attack and, just a few feet away from the trees that would have meant freedom, it died.

Panting heavily, Dedrick hurried over to the female's body, dropping the weapon, and wondered if he had come in time, remorse and guilt filling him if he had not. Dropping to his knees, he dragged her the rest of the way out of the water, worried about the fact that she could have drowned while he was fighting the monster for her life. He pulled the girl's sodden hair away from her pale face and placed her head on his knee. He placed one hand over her mouth, waiting for a breath that would signal life.


End file.
